"I MUST play the guitar!" Flashback to a broken-down movie theatre
parking lot in 1987 in Lawrence, NY, a small Long Island suburb in the
shadow of JFK airport, and this is the emphatic statement you'd hear
coming from the high-pitched voice of the skinny little kid running
down the steps who had just seen the movie "La Bamba" for the first
time. A few years later, a teenage love of classic rock and a devout
love of the angelic vocals of artists such as Jeff Buckley, Sam Cooke,
Alex Chilton and Rufus Wainwright would spawn an entirely new young
talent in the well-cataloged bars of Lower East Side New York City:
songwriter, guitarist and vocalist, JASON LIEBMAN.
With his second full-length album--SWEET SACRIFICE, Jason shares his
exceptional and constantly evolving musical talent with the world.
Sweet Sacrifice is a 14-song musical color wheel, showcasing an
astounding diversity of songwriting and instrumental range.
You might already know Jason. You may remember him for the aluminum
guitar he plays onstage, it looks like a Harley with strings and when
it catches the spotlight just
right it glows like a supernova. He's played onstage with a number of
nationally and internationally-touring artists including Warner Bros
recording artist Rachael
Yamagata, rocker/actor Val Emmich and NYC indie pop rock quintet The
Orion Experience, and his original music has appeared on television
shows such as
Nickelodeon's "iCarly" and "Zoey 101," as well as MTV's "Next."
His 2002 debut solo album, The Driest of All Seasons, caught the
attention of the media early on. Billboard Magazine called Jason "an
engaging artist capable of
darting from acoustic-leaning troubadour to blues-jammer to flat-out
rocker with considerable ease" (9/21/02). Newsday hailed the album as
"...a fine debut...a true
labor of love," citing that "'Fall Away' and 'That Summer' shine with
feeling beyond Liebman's 20-something years" (1/10/03).
After the release of The Driest of All Seasons, Jason continued
writing, recording and performing in the New York area where he
currently lives. In 2004 Jason
partnered with Aaron Wolfe (bass), Jon Lundbom (guitar) and Andrew
Bain (drums) and released a four-song EP called Escape From The Heart
of Darkness under the band name
Jason Liebman & The Uprising. Good Times (Long Island, NY bi-weekly)
raved that the songs were, "sky high on emotionally charged rock/pop
anthems aimed straight at the
heart" (9/21/04).
Complimenting Jason's extraordinary songwriting and performances,
Sweet Sacrifice features some of the most talented young musicians
anywhere in the world. Concord
Records recording artist Jon Irabagon plays saxophone on several
tracks, Jason Loughlin (Amos Lee, Nellie McKay) joins Jason on guitar,
Dan Carlisle on bass, former Uprising band member Andrew Bain plays
drums, Matt Kanelos contributed his impressive piano skills and a host
of other musicians round out this enormous album.
"It sounds like a cliché, but the more I travel and perform and the
more musicians I work with, the more I understand that it's not about
where a career starts or where
it ends. It's not about any one gig or any two bands or someone's ten
favorite road stories. It's about the journey," reflects Jason, and
with Sweet Sacrifice, he is
about to embark on an exciting new road trip.
Jason Liebman - vox, guitar
Matt Kanelos - piano, vox
Ben Gallina - bass, vox
Stephen Chopek - drums, percussion
Andrew Bain - drums percussion
